[Vision2020] Good morning campers - It's installment #19 - Encouragement

[Joe Campbell]

I didn't say we had to pay it back today. Maybe we can find some kind
of debt consolidation business to work with!?!

And if the debt is that high how the heck are we going to pay it back
without raising taxes? That's the issue. The issue is how can we pay
off such a huge debt (yet again one raised during a REPUBLICAN
administration) without raising taxes? How can CUTTING programs raise
that much money if raising taxes can't, as you argue?

On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> These aren't facts, they are opinions.
> Actually, they are facts.  Let's use some numbers to clarify the situation
>> Here's a solution: raise taxes and pay off the debt. Quick, honest, responsible solution. Let's actually pay for the music. If it's our fault, as the quotes below indicate, shouldn't we pay for it?
> As it stands today, the federal government has a national debt of
> approximately 14 trillion dollars.  State and local government has a
> bonded indebtedness of about 2.5 trillion dollars.  These numbers do NOT
> include the debt associated with unfunded entitlements, i.e., future
> social security obligations and state and local pension obligations that
> have not been funded by assets set aside to meet those obligations.
> Estimates of the unfunded entitlements  have ranged from $30 trillion to
> as much as $60 trillion dollars.
>
> But let's just focus on the debt that has been incurred - about 16.5
> trillion dollars.  To gain a perspective of the scope and scale of the
> national and state and local debt, let's calculate the debt per capita.
> Now the US population is estimated to be about 308 million folks
> (preliminary 2010 census).  So, every man, woman and child has a debt
> obligation (as of 2011) of approximately $54,000.  For a family of four
> (4), that comes to a family obligation of about $216,000.
>
> The national debt is forecasted to reach $20 trillion by 2015.  And the
> interest rate on that debt will rise quickly (inflation and fears of
> insolvency).
>
> Do you see the problem?
>
>>
>> On Jan 5, 2011, at 9:08 PM, Jeff Harkins<jeffh at moscow.com>  wrote:
>>
>>>   Sometimes facts are scary things.  And sometimes scary facts encourage
>>> people to do things to deal with the scary facts.  Sometimes it takes
>>> scary things to encourage people to address their fears and deal with
>>> reality.
>>>
>>>
>>>> "After years of deficit financing for state and local government (dems
>>>> and repubs), it is time to begin to pay for the music.
>>>>
>>> Fact
>>>> "Here is a teaser intro to get folks to focus on the problems we are now
>>>> facing.  Before you gnash your teeth and wring your hands in despair, be
>>>> sure to link to the full article - then let the gnashing begin.
>>>>
>>> Fact
>>>> "We, as a nation and a republic of states are in serious fiscal
>>>> condition.  Our present situation is NOT SUSTAINABLE.  Each U.S. citizen
>>>> is going to sacrifice - over the next several decades."
>>>>
>>> Fact
>>>
>>> Let's make the sacrifice count.  Let's do it well.  Let's fix the problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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